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In order to determine the percent detachment of pistachio nut or cluster off the tree, a mechanical shaker with 540 rpm frequency and 25 mm stroke was used.This stroke and frequency had been found to be the most suitable ones during a preliminary experiment. In an experiment of completely randomized block design, a number of 30 trees - 3 replications of 10 different cultivars were trunk shaken. The test wa... carried out at the Pistachio
Experiment Station in Rafsanjan. The station belongs to the Pistachio Research Institute of the Research, Education and Extension Organization of the Ministry of Agriculture. For the ripe nuts a detachment of 95 percent was observed whereas in the case of clusters only a maximum detachment of 21 percent (for Reza-i Zoodras cultivar). Other cultivars, namely Ghazvini, Ohadi. Kalleh Ghoochi, Shahpasand and Momtaze Tajabadi showed .less cluster Detachment. A significant difference for nut detachment (a = 0.01) was observed between the different cultivars. Detachment was highest in Italics-i. Momtaze Tajabadi and Ghazvini cultivars, therefore being recognized
as the most suitable ones for shake harvesting while using a shaker of the
above characteristic.